How to Solve Your Own Murder
A Novel
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4.2 • 133 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A Jimmy Fallon’s Book Club Finalist for 2024
AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist
A GMA Buzz Pick!
One of Amazon's Top 10 Best Books of April, One of Jimmy Fallon's favorite books for Spring 2024, The Top LibraryReads pick for March 2024, A Publishers Marketplace 2024 BuzzBook | One of NPR's Books We Love
Named most anticipated by: Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, BookRiot, BookBub, The Nerd Daily, Shelf Reflection, Novel Suspects, Borrow Read Repeat, The Everygirl, The Scout Guide, The Real Book Spy
For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club, an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate.... Now it's up to her great-niece to catch the killer.
It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.
In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?
As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Perrin's twisty debut revolves around a challenge issued from the grave. In 1965, Frances Adams develops a lifelong fear of being killed after a fortune teller at an English country fair warns her that "all signs point toward your murder." Decades later, a now-wealthy Frances summons her great-niece, Annie, to discuss her will in the sleepy village of Castle Knoll, even though the 25-year-old aspiring mystery novelist has never met her eccentric aunt. Minutes after Annie arrives at the estate with Frances's lawyers, they discover her dead body slumped behind the desk in her library. Frances's will states that she expected to be murdered, and that the first person to solve the crime within a week will inherit her assets and property; if no one cracks the case, it all goes to an unpleasant real estate developer. Annie leaps into action, quickly discovering that plenty of Castle Knoll locals have long coveted her late aunt's fortune. Perrin juxtaposes timelines, detailing Frances's provincial life in the 1960s while Annie's investigation grows increasingly treacherous in the present. The pace is quick, the red herrings are plentiful, and Annie's growth from timid wannabe writer to confident sleuth is beautifully rendered. Combining elements of Agatha Christie, Anthony Horowitz, and Midsomer Murders, this is a richly entertaining whodunit from a promising new talent.
Customer Reviews
Cozy & Twisty
A cozy and twisty mystery with a strong Endeavor/ Inspector Morse feel. I like the protagonist Annie immensely and was rooting for her the whole time.
Enjoyable Read
This is an entertaining read and has you wondering who did what until the end. Well-written and captivating.
Worth the hype
Entranced from page one…the story and mystery are original and clever. The ending is a little neat and probably obvious to some but the large dose of red herrings kept me guessing.